5,249 Shares in ePlus inc. $PLUS Purchased by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired 5,249 shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) for approximately $320,000 in the first quarter, indicating growing interest from institutional investors.
• ePlus recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, with a payout expected on September 17th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.4%.
• Analysts have downgraded ePlus from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, with the company reporting a Q1 EPS of $0.95, surpassing estimates but falling short on revenue expectations.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,249 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLUS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,448,514 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $149,433,000 after buying an additional 11,051 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ePlus during the fourth quarter worth about $127,898,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in ePlus during the fourth quarter worth about $43,517,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in ePlus by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 496,648 shares of the software maker's stock worth $36,692,000 after acquiring an additional 37,496 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in ePlus by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,724 shares of the software maker's stock worth $16,751,000 after acquiring an additional 38,317 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ePlus Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ePlus stock traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $70.71. The stock had a trading volume of 145,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,012. The stock's 50 day moving average is $69.75 and its 200 day moving average is $66.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.14. ePlus inc. has a twelve month low of $53.83 and a twelve month high of $106.98.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The software maker reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. ePlus had a net margin of 5.47% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $498.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.85 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 26th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered ePlus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th.

ePlus Profile

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.